Harry Potter and the Plot Bunny Hutch
by kage kitsune 14
Summary: My plot bunny dumping grounds for Harry Potter fanfic ideas. If you want to see any of these expanded on review and I'll see if I can get to it.
1. Fear of Werewolves

_"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall._

_"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backwards in alarm. "There's a boggart in there."_

_Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Neville gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror and Seamus Finnigan eyed the now rattling door knob apprehensively._

_"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks- I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice._

_"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"_

_Hermione put up her hand._

_"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."_

_"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears._

_"This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore Neville's small sputter of terror, "that we will have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"_

_Trying to answer a question with Hermione next to him, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air was very off-putting, but Harry had a go._

_"Er- because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"_

_"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. WHich should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake - tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening._

_"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape you find amusing._

_"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... Riddikulus!"_

_"Riddikulus!" said the class together._

_"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."_

_The wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows._

_"Right Neville," said Professor Lupin. "First things first; what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"_

_Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out._

_"Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry." said Professor Lupin cheerfully._

_Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."_

_Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful._

_"Professor Snape...hmmm...Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"_

_"Er...yes." said Neville nervously. "But- I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."_

_"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin, now smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"_

_Neville looked startled, but said, "Well...always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress...green, normally...and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."_

_"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin._

_"A big red one," said Neville._

_"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"_

_"Yes." said Neville uncertainly, plainly wondering what was coming next._

_"When the boggart burst out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Lupin. "And you will raise you wand- thus- and cry 'Riddikulus' - and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into the vulture-topped hat, and that green dres, with that big red handbag."_

_There was a great shout of laughter. The wardrobe wobbled more violently._

_"If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."_

_The room went quiet._

_(Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, pgs. 132-136)_

Hermione thought about that, what scared her most? The first thing she thought of was failing all of her classes, then almost unbidden came the memory of the one night during the previous summer.

Flashback:

She yelped as she tripped over yet another branch. Why did her parents insist on having a camping trip? They were in a place called the Forest of Dean, it was a beautiful place but she wasn't really an outdoor type. Sure she enjoyed nature but she preferred the nice comfort of a large lounge chair and a good book. It was the summer after her second year which was probably why her parents were so insistent on a family outing. She had been petrified by a Baskilisk last year and her parents were beginning to think sending her to Hogwarts was a bad idea.

She had managed to convince them that the muggle world was just as dangerous as the magical world, at least the magical world didn't have guns or bombs.

She had been sent to retrieve more firewood which really meant her parents wanted some time to discuss something without her there.

She bent and picked up the branch she had tripped on halfheartedly. It was a large branch as far as branches go. As big around as her arm and about twice as long.

She was just standing straight again when she heard a howl that chilled her to the bone. It was close, too close for comfort. And it didn't sound like a wolf's howl, it was much too deep and short. A rustle of a bush, the crack of a small twig getting crushed beneath a large foot, a low snarl. She shuddered as gold eyes came into view.

A large body edged its way into the small clearing standing on four distorted legs. The front ones were oddly placed, much too uneven to be animal, yet too long to be human. A short snout was parted in a teeth baring snarl, pointed ears were pressed against the oddly shaped head in a threatening manner. A short boney tail was attached to the where the tail bone would extend. The spine was grossly twisted, bent nearly in half something that wouldn't have looked so out of place if the spine hadn't been so long. The creature stood on two back legs and it suddenly became much more terrifying. It stood nearly eight feet tall and towered over her threateningly, and suddenly the five feet of space between them wasn't nearly enough.

It snarled menacingly as it stepped closer still on two legs. It drew its front leg back threateningly and then swung it down at her. She yelled in fear and shock even as she swung the big branch up to knock the blow to the side. It passed her face harmlessly. The werewolf dropped to four legs and lunged at her. She fell backwards onto her back and had the presence of mind to shove the branch up sideways so it lodged in the creature's mouth to keep it from biting her.

The charms on her silver bracelet jangled silently swaying with the force of the blow. The werewolf had one paw pressing down on the one side of the branch and it drew back the other paw and brought down the sharp claws raking them across the underside of her left arm. Her arm trembled and she yelped at the sudden pain. The adrenaline had dulled it a lot but the pain was still sharp. She took a desperate, yet still cautious swing at the creature's short muzzle. Her hand stung even as the sound of flesh touching flesh rung out.

Then the werewolf drew back with a yelping howl in pain. Across its muzzle was a bright red yet small burn. It was in the shape of interlocking rings, her bracelet had branded the werewolf's face. Hermione pushed the branch up throwing the distracted creature to one side. She scrambled to her feet hurriedly and took a quick swing at the werewolf's head while it was distracted hitting it across the muzzle with a sharp crack. It yelped in shock at the sudden attack. She swung the branch again. Hitting its neck this time instead of its muzzle. It snarled menacingly before turning tail and loping off with its odd limbs, searching for some easier prey.

She hurriedly went back to her campsite clutching the branch in her hand and flinching at every sound. She had no doubt she wouldn't be so lucky the second time she went up against the werewolf.

Her parents quickly carted her to a hospital and she got over sixty stitches for the three deep gashes. They went from just below the crook of her elbow to her wrist. And when the doctors had finally taken the stitches out a month later, almost four times the required time it was still sore and prone to breaking open to bleed a little, though not as much as it had been.

It had actually taken until just before she went to get her supplies for her scars to stop twinging every so often. She had even made herself a healing cream in her parent's kitchen, making sure to clean all of the surfaces carefully before and after brewing. She needed to avoid contamination in the potion ingredients but she also didn't want any of the potion's ingredients to cause damage in the kitchen. The cream had helped but not as much as it should have.

Flashback End

She came back into herself and tried to imagine a way to make a werewolf seem amusing. Maybe if it was a puppy? A scolded puppy? She remembered hitting the werewolf over his muzzle and imagined the same thing with a rolled up newspaper and a scolded puppy and chuckled.

"Is everybody ready?" Professor Lupin asked.

There was a general murmur of agreement.

"Ready, Neville?" He asked turning to the frightened boy. He nodded nervously. Lupin stood back and cast a spell at the wardrobe causing it to creak open. A sallow hand appeared grasping onto the side of the wardrobe and pulled itself out and a carbon copy of the greasy hair potions professor stood just outside the wardrobe. He paused for a second than took a smooth step forward his cloak billowing in the non-existent breeze just like the real Snape's did.

"R-r-riddikulus!" Neville stuttered out. There was a sound like a whip cracking and suddenly the boggart Snape was wearing the ugliest hat Hermione had ever seen, along with a emerald green dress and a giant red handbag that clashed horribly. A quick burst of laughter came from the assembled students.

"Very good. Very good." Lupin congratulated. "To the back Neville, and everyone form a line." He ordered.

Hermione slipped into line just in front of Harry yet behind Ron.

"Parvati, Forward!" Lupin called.

The confused boggart turned into a bloody mummy.

"Riddikulus!" She called and with a whip crack the mummy's bandage unwrapped around its feet and it tripped causing its head to fly off.

"Seamus!" Lupin roared.

Seamus stepped forward and the headless mummy became a skeletal green woman with floor length hair, it was a banshee. She opened her mouth and let out a horrible screech.

"Riddikulus!" Seamus yelled and the boggart banshee held her hand up to her throat as her voice suddenly vanished.

The boggart turned into several different things as it ran around in a circle confused as to why it wasn't scaring them.

"It's getting confused. Dean!" Lupin called.

Dean hurried forward and with another crack the boggart turned into a severed hand which flipped over and started to do a sort of crab walk towards Dean.

"Riddikulus!" He called and with a crack the hand was caught in a mouse trap.

"Excellent, Ron, you're next." Ron stepped forward drawling his wand nervously.

The boggart instantly turned into a six foot tall spider, which clicked its pincers threateningly.

"Riddikulus!" Ron bellowed fear giving his voice volume. There was a crack and the spider instantly gained eight rollar skates, one for each leg. It slipped wildly before falling.

"Hermione!" Lupin ordered.

Hermione stepped forward cautiously and the spider instantly transformed. It was a wolf like creature and then it stood on its back legs revealing for the whole class it was a werewolf. There was a large red welt across the creature's muzzle and then it opened its mouth and a raspy male voice came out.

"I'm coming for my revenge. You stupid little Mudblood. And no amount of silver will save you from me this time." It snarled. Hermione felt her muscles lock in shock. She quickly snapped out of it pointing her wand at the werewolf boggart. "R-riddikulus!" She called her voice quivering with shock that the boggart had actually talked to her. There was the sound of a whip cracking then the werewolf was suddenly a puppy that got rapped sharply across the head with a rolled up newspaper as it curled its tail in between its legs submissively. Hermione forced a chuckle as she took a cautious step back.

Harry stepped forward eager to have his turn and the puppy suddenly whirled around in a swirl of black mist and suddenly it was a dementor. Lupin leaped forward in front of Harry before he could take care of it. The boggart turned into a white orb.

"Riddikulus." Lupin said almost lazily and the orb turned into a balloon that made a whooshing sound as the air was let out of it. Lupin cast a spell openning the door and the boggart instantly flew in still in balloon form. Lupin cast a locking charm to the groans of most of the class.

"Sorry about that. That's it for the day. Take five points for each person who faced the boggart and another five for both Hermione and Harry for answering my questions at the beginning of class." Lupin ordered.

Hermione quickly gathered her books.

"A werewolf?" Ron asked suddenly, "What was that about?" He demanded.

Hermione glanced around. Only Harry and Ron were in hearing distance. Lupin was still in the room but he was much too far away to hear her. She gestured for the boys to move closer and pulled up her left sleeve up to her elbow revealing three gruesomely long scars. "This summer. My parents took me camping in the forest of Dean. I was out gathering firewood when the werewolf found me. I had just picked up a rather large piece of wood to use as firewood and I managed to parry the first swing of claws, but then it knocked me to the ground. I had the presence of mind to shove the piece of wood into its mouth to keep it from biting me. It had one of its paws on the wood but it used its other paw to cause this." Hermione gestured to the scars. "I slapped it across the muzzle reasonably convinced its mouth was preoccupied with the wood. And then it drew back in pain and I noticed the welt I had caused with my bracelet. I hefted the wood up throwing it sideways off of me and took a couple swings at it hitting it across the head and its neck. It turned tail and run after a couple of hits." Hermione sighed. "My fear is that it will come back to get me, or maybe what would've happened if it hadn't run away." Hermione unconsciously rubbed the tingling scars.

"Come on, we'll be late for lunch." Harry interrupted sensing Hermione didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Ron looked like he was going to protest but dropped it and they all went down to lunch. Unknown to them, one Remus J. Lupin had heard the whole story.

He stared after the group with an unreadable expression on his face.


	2. Ursa Lillian Black

"I don't see why we're moving back there anyway." Ursalana 'Ursa' Lillian Black complained sinking back into the comfortable seats in the First class section of the airplane they were on towards London, England.

"Your father would want you to go to his Alma Mater." Her mother, Jennifer Rose Black nee Greene, explained.

"Mom, no one uses Alma Mater to describe their school anymore. And besides, that was before Dad was thrown in Azkaban with no trial." Ursa counters.

"Your father would still want you to go." Her mother insisted.

"Fine, its not like I'm leaving all my friends behind. Its not like I'm going to be hated for being the daughter of the so-called right hand man of Voldemort." Ursa mutters angrily under her breath bringing up her Care of Magical Creatures book which was glamoured to look like some popular romance novel or another.

"Don't say his name." Jenny hissed.

"Why not? Not even his real name. And he's dead anyway." Ursa replied.

"You don't understand. You can't remember the fear and the desperation. You were only a baby. A year and a two months old, too young to remember. But everyone who was old enough will never forget." Jenny replied a tone of old horror coming into her soft voice.

"Alright, You-Know-Who. Whatever." She muttered caving into her mother's request.

"Thank you, puppy." Jenny replied using a nickname that hadn't been used since Ursa was seven and found out it wasn't cool.

"Mom." Ursa complained good naturedly.

There wasn't another complaint about going to England the whole rest of the flight.

Ursa Black was the only daughter of Sirius and Jennifer Black. She was born August 7th, 1980. On November 1st, 1981, Jennifer was forced to flee her home with 13 month old Ursa. A mob had formed outside the residence where they had once resided with Sirius. Jennifer didn't find out until two days later that Sirius had been arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and thirteen muggles, and for giving Lily and James Potter's location to Voldemort.

She immediately knew Sirius was innocent. James and Sirius had performed the Blood Brothers Ritual the summer between their sixth and seventh year of Hogwarts. James had been Ursa's Godfather. And Harry Potter was Sirius' Godson. Sirius was more likely to tear off his own head than hurt James, Lily, or Harry.

Jennifer had applied for a visa to America for her and her daughter while laying low with her Aunt who lived several miles away from London and her former residence. She was approved for a visa, she had applied for a learning visa. She was going to go to Muggle college via internet. She had been one of the few muggleborns she knew that had continued her muggle education while she was going to Hogwarts. Her parents had hired a private tutor during the summers to cram as much as he could from 180 days into less than half the time. He had done his job well. He had eliminated all but the essentials: math, literature, social science, and science and focused as much as he could on those subjects.

She went to college for 8 years getting a bachelor's degree for both English and Zoology. She had always loved Care of Magical Creatures so it transferred over to muggle animal care too. She had instinctively started teaching Ursa extremely proper grammar and spelling right away because it was what she was learning. Luckily it caused Ursa to have a love of books instead of the normal effect it would have on someone forced to do something for a long time.

Ursa had been accepted to Salem Academy for Witches when she reached age eleven. She became friends with several girls her age who had similar interests. Angela, Ronda, and Audrey were the names of her friends. They spent all their free time together and even shared a dorm room along with another girl named Sasha who was so painfully shy they couldn't find a common interest to bond over.

Ursa had gotten straight O's, and had managed to keep up with her own personal projects. Which were learning Latin, French and Welsh, studying potions and Care of Magical Creatures, and learning the animagus transformation. She didn't tell her mother she was learning it though, she was extremely close to mastering it. She had managed to change all the individual parts and was working on doing it all at once and making the transformation quicker.

So when her mother had announced that they were moving back to England Ursa had understandably freaked.

"Ursalana wake up this instant!" Her mother hissed urgently. "We're here."

"I'm up." Ursa slurred in a sleep heavy voice.

They managed to make it through the airport security within an half an hour. Jennifer was driving the rented car to their old house.

When they reached it Ursa's first thought was something along the line of 'its a complete dump.'.

Jennifer seemed to think the same thing.

"They destroyed it." There was a deep sorrow in her voice.

"We can fix it." Ursa encouraged.

"We'll have to." Her mother answered.

They dragged their suitcases into the front room and shut the door behind them.

"I'm giving you permission to use magic to help repair the house, don't get caught and don't tell anyone." Her mother said. "They won't be able to tell who uses the magic in the area, but don't go parading it."

"I understand." Ursa replied easily pulling out her wand. Twelve inches, Cherry wood, and phoenix tail feather, swishy - good for transfiguration and defense. She swished it in a wide arch sending all the broken glass flying back into the places where it came from. The windows merged back together like water combining with more water.

Jennifer waved her wand too. All the wood flew back into place, some into the stair case some into the door frames. They also merged like nothing had happened.

Soon they were taking turns repairing things. Then it turned into a competition. And with one last flourish of both wands all of the dirt in the house vanished leaving the house practically sparkling clean.

"Nice." Ursa said holding her hand up for a high five. Jennifer rolled her eyes and gave Ursa a high five.

"Now we need to go to Diagon Alley and get your supplies." Jennifer told her. "I've already written to Dumbledore and he's agreed to let you start your third year." She said.

Ursa nodded in understanding. "How are we going to get there?" Ursa asked.

"Knight Bus." Her mother answered.

"Knight Bus?" Ursa repeated confused.

"Watch." Jennifer walked out to the end of the block and looked around quickly before throwing her arm up wand held aloft.

With a thunderous bang a violently purple triple-decker bus appeared. The gold lettering across the windshield proclaimed _The Knight Bus_.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening." He read off a small index card before looking up at Ursa and Jennifer.

"Hello Stan. Is the fee still the same as it was thirteen years ago?" Jennifer asked. "Sure is ma'am. Eleven sickles for just the ride, firteen for a 'ot chocolate with the ride, and for fifteen you get 'ot water bottle and a toofbrush in the color of your choice." Stan answered.

"Just the ride Stan." Jennifer said handing over a couple galleons.

"Yes ma'am." He answered holding down a hand to help them up onto the bus. Jennifer easily accepted the hand up and took a seat in one of the empty purple chairs near the front of the bus. Ursa followed her mother's lead. She plopped down in the seat next to her mom's and looked around curiously.

"Hold on." Her mother warned. Ursa looked at her questioningly for a second but then the bus jumped with a loud bang and they were now on a little suburban road. All of the street signs jumped out of the bus' way as it went by. Ursa managed to regain her balance by throwing herself backwards into her seat.

Then something caught her eye. The newspaper the conductor was reading. On the front page, as plain as day, were the words **BLACK STILL AT LARGE**.

"Mom, he escaped!" Ursa hissed excitedly. Stan thought she had said it in fear. "That 'e did. Wh're you been? Under a rock?" He asked incredulously.

"We just moved back from America." Jennifer answered calmly.

"America? That would explain it." He answered.

They spent the rest of the ride in silence except for the loud bangs every time the bus jumped.

They got off the bus and walked into Diagon Alley. "Jennifer, is that you?" Tom at the bar called.

"Yeah, its me." Jennifer called back.

"And whose this lovely young lady with you?" He asked.

"This is my daughter, Ursalana." Jennifer answered easily.

"Ah, nice to meet you miss Ursalana." Tom said.

"Just Ursa, Mr. Tom." Ursa answered.

"Very well, Ursa." Tom answered. "I haven't seen you since you got married to that ruffian Black. Where have you been?" Tom asked.

"Sirius isn't a ruffian. And I was chased to America with my 13 month old child when my husband was arrested without a trial." Jennifer countered.

"Without a trial? There were thirteen witnesses." Tom argued.

"Muggles, they didn't see what they thought they saw." Jennifer countered again.

"Jenny, you know we will always disagree on this. I didn't agree with you choice to date Black, let alone marry him. His whole family is dark and they were likely to kill you for dating him." Tom sighed letting the topic drop. "At any rate, its good to see you again. And please be careful, there might be some witches and wizards who will kill you for being Black's wife."

Ursa was quiet watching the argument take place. Finally her mother turned around and led her into the alley itself. The alley was still packed even though it was getting late, it was nearly seven o'clock and all of the stores were still open.

The made their way to Gringotts and slipped into the marble building.

"We need to get into the Black family vault." Jennifer told the goblin quietly handing over a key.

The goblin eyed her for a second before turning his attention to the key.

"It seems to be in order, Mrs. Black." He said gesturing for one of the cart goblins to come over. They got in and out of the vault quickly and with minimum fuss.

Then they went through getting the supplies they needed. Robes from Madam Malkins, potions ingredients, then school books including a book that tried to bit off their hands.

"Mom, can I get a pet?" Ursa finally asked as they left Florish and Blotts.

"Fine. Nothing exotic, a cat or an owl." She ordered sternly.

"Okay, thanks." Ursa cheered running to the menagerie. She looked around eagerly, there were sleek black rats playing double dutch with their tails, a rabbit that kept turning itself into a large fluffy top hat and back, a tortoise with a jewel encrusted shell, a couple poisonous orange snails that were crawling up the wall of their tank, and cats of every color and size. A cage full of loud ravens, a basket of small round puffy creatures that were jumping up and down eagerly, and a pair of enormous purple toads that were feasting on dead flies of some kind, their cheeks puffing outward with every breath.

She walked over to the cages with the kittens and cats and began examining them. She had narrowed it down between a small, sleek, black half kneezel, half short-hair kitten and a black tom cat that was a little older and had odd half heart marking on its forehead when her mother finally caught up to her.

"So which do you want?"

"I'm not sure. I think I want the black kitten, its at least half kneezle." Ursa told her staring at the pure black kitten. Then she nodded decisively and picked the small kitten up carrying it to the counter.

"Ah, the half kneezle kitten. That'll be 8 galleons for the kitten, the carrier, the bed, and a toy for him." The sales witch said.

Ursa handed over the required money, easily cradling the kitten in her arms. Her mother sunk the carrier, bed and toy into a smaller size and stuck it in her pocket with the rest of Ursa's school supplies.

"I think I'll name you Marauder." Ursa stated with a smile staring down at her kitten.

"Oh boy." Jennifer muttered.

Two weeks later Jennifer was urging Ursa to "hurry up or you're going to miss the train."

Ursa stuffed the last of her stuff into her suitcase and grabbed Marauder sticking him into his cat carrier. He hissed disgruntled at the harsh treatment. With a muffled "sorry" from Ursa he was forgotten for a moment in the hustle.

"Hurry, hurry!" Jennifer called shoving Ursa's trunk into the trunk of the car.

They lived ten minutes away from King's Cross and they made it there in five.

"Through the barrier." Jennifer ordered throwing the trunk onto a carrier.

"I'm going, I'm going." Ursa complained back running through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Jennifer followed a second later.

"Okay, owl me at least once a month. More if possible." Jennifer ordered magicking the suitcase onto the train. "I love you, puppy." She added.

"Mom!" Ursa complained as some nearby second years laughed behind their hands at her.

Ursa hopped onto the train and waved as the train started pulling away from the station.

"Love you, mom!" She called back as the platform slowly disappeared from sight.

She hefted her trunk up and began dragging it towards the compartments. She found a nearly empty compartment in the back. It already had four people, two of which looked scarily familiar. One was Remus J. Lupin, or Moony, one of her father's best friends from Hogwarts. The other was a carbon copy of James Potter who must've been Harry Potter, her God-brother.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Ursa asked opening the door.

"Um... sure." Harry answered.

"Thanks. I'm Ursalana. Everyone calls me Ursa. I've just transferred from Salem Academy for Witches, in America." Ursa explained hefting her trunk into the overhead compartment and letting Marauder out of his carrier. "Oh, and this is Marauder." She said holding the small black kitten up.

"Marauder?" Hermione asked.

"Inside joke. My mom groaned when she heard what I named him."

"My name is Hermione." Hermione introduced.

"I'm Ron."

"And I'm Harry."

"So where did you come from exactly." Hermione asked.

"Oh, I was raised in Pennsylvania, a state on the east coast of the United States. I went to Salem Academy for Witches, which is in Massachusetts. Its an all girls boarding school." Ursa quickly explained. "Mom went to a muggle college why we were there. We actually moved to America when I was fourteen months old. Mom was attacked near our home and she took me and fled."

"Death Eaters?" Ron asked.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Voldemort's followers." Ursa said quickly before covering her mouth. "Sorry, You-Know-Who." She corrected quickly.

"You actually say his name?" Harry asked interested.

"Its just a name. He's not going to jump out of the wood work if its used. Mom told me off for saying it. Said I didn't understand. Told me I couldn't remember the terror in those days." Ursa sighed. "I try to listen to mom. She's the only one I have and I don't want her mad at me for something stupid like a name."

"So was it Death Eaters?" Ron asked.

"No, bunch of drunk wizards partying. Thought they'd be great heroes." Ursa looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry, we've dug to deep." Hermione said putting an arm around Ursa's shoulder supportively.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" The cart witch asked peeking in the compartment.

Harry got a pile of cauldron cakes; Ursa bought a few sugar quills, a container of Berry Bott's every flavor beans, and a few chocolate frogs.

"Do you recon we should wake him up?" Ron asked looking over toward a still sleeping Remus Lupin.

Ursa quickly counted days in her head. "No, he needs his sleep."

"If he wants something when he wakes up I'll be in the front of the train with the driver." The cart witch said.

They made small talk mostly about classes, Quidditch, and teachers. The trio told Ursa which teachers to avoid - Snape and Filch, who wasn't really a teacher; and teachers that were nice - Flitwick and Sprout; and teachers you didn't want to get on the bad side of - McGonigal, Hooch, and Snape again because he was the easiest to get on the bad side of.

Mid-afternoon, just as it started to rain, Draco Malfoy arrived flanked by his cronies Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Well look who it is," Malfoy drawled "Potty and Weasel."

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled like a pair of trolls.

"I hear you father got his hands on some gold this summer; did your mother die of shock?" Malfoy sneered.

Ron got to his feet violently sending Hermione's cat to the ground with an angry hiss. Proffesor Lupin gave a snort, his head turning over so it was pressed sideways against the glass.

"Who's that?" Malfoy asked taking an automatic step back when he spotted Lupin.

"New teacher." Harry answered as he also got to his feet.

"What were you saying, Malfoy?" Ron demanded.

Malfoy's eyes narrowed, but he wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight with a teacher sleeping only feet away.

"C'mon." Malfoy muttered resentfully leading his pair of goons out of the compartment.

Ron sat back rubbing his knuckles. "I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year. If he makes one more crack about my family I'll..." He made a motion strangling the air in front of him.

"Ron." Hermione scolded looking at Lupin but he was still asleep.

Over time the sky got darker, the rain pouring down in sheets.

Ursa tossed a red Berry Bott's bean at Ron. He caught it and looked at it cautiously before shrugging and putting it in his mouth. He grimaced and forced himself to swallow. "Beets." He explained at the other three's questioning look.

Ursa tossed a blue one at Hermione. Hermione stared at it worriedly, but put it in her mouth under everybody's stares. She smiled "Blueberry." She answered.

Harry was tossed a orange bean. He bit into it, "Orange." He asked the unanswered question.

Ursa took a green one, then grimaced when she tasted it. "Grass." She answered the unasked question.

The train started to slow. Suddenly the lights flickered, the bulbs sort of froze over.

"We must be close." Ron said pushing his face against the window.

"We can't be there yet." Hermione said checking her watch.

"So why are we stopping?"

Harry got up and slid the compartment door open and looking out. All along the carriage heads were peeking out of compartments.

Then the train stopped with a jolt and several thuds indicated some luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then the light went out completely.

"What's going on?" Ron's voice asked from behind Harry.

"Ouch!" Hermione gasped. "Ron, that was my foot!" She complained.

"Ouch! Don't step over here." Ursa ordered.

Harry felt his way back to his seat.

"Do you think we've broken down?"

"Dunno..."

There was a squeak as Ron wiped the icy condensation off of the window and peered out.

"There's something moving out there. I think someone's coming on board." There was a touch of nervousness in Ron's voice.

The compartment door open and someone fell over Harry's leg heavily.

"Sorry - d'you know what's going on? - Ouch- sorry-"

"Hullo, Neville," Harry replied pulling Neville back to his feet by the back of his cloak.

"Harry? Is that you? What's going on?"

"No idea - sit down-"

There was a loud hissing and two yelps of pain. Neville had tried to sit down on Crookshanks and Marauder.

"I'm going to go ask the driver what's going on." Hermione announce as she slid the door open, there was a thud and two loud squeals of pain.

"Who's that?

"Who's _that_?

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What're you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come in and sit down-"

"Not here! _I'm _here!" Harry rushed to say.

"Ouch!" Neville exclaimed.

"Not here either." Ursa warned.

"Quiet!" a hoarse voice spoke suddenly. Ursa flinched before remembering that Lupin was still sitting in the compartment.

No one spoke.

There was a soft crackling noise and a flickering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin was holding a handful of flames. They showed a tired, gray face but his eyes were wary and alert.

"Stay where you are." He spoke in the same hoarse voice as he got to his feet slowly holding the flame out in front of him so he could see where he was going.

But the door slid open before he could reach it. Illuminated by the flames in Lupin's hand was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was hidden beneath his hood, the only piece of flesh showing was its hand, if you could even call it flesh. It was rotten-looking, gray and slimy, and looked like it had decayed in water. Its hand was only visible for a second though, the creature seeming to sense Ursa's gaze withdrew its hand into its cloak.

Then it drew a long, slow, rattling breath as though it were trying to suck something more than air from the surroundings. An intense cold swept over them all, Ursa started shivering, it felt like ice was running through her veins encasing her heart with its cold touch.

Ursa suddenly wasn't in the compartment.

_She was a baby again, her daddy leaned over her. "Shhh, puppy. Daddy's just going to check on Peter. I'll be back as soon as I'm sure no Death Eater has gotten him in order to find where your Uncle James, Aunt Lily and God-brother Harry are." She was in her daddy's arms he was bouncing her gently trying to calm her sudden tears. Then her mommy was there, but she didn't want to go to her mommy. Something bad was going to happen if her daddy left. She was handed over to her mommy and her daddy left._

_She was crying, she hadn't stopped all night and mommy was getting worried. Then they heard the angry, drunk voices. They were calling for her mommy's and her death. Death because of her daddy. Then she was whisked out the back door by her mother._

She curled into a ball instinctively shielding her stomach and head.

She heard several voices from far away.

"Harry. Harry. Wake up Harry."

"Ursa, come on Ursa. Get up."

Suddenly she was drenched with cold water. Ursa jackknifed into a sitting position shuddering wildly trying to regain the heat she had suddenly lost.

"W-w-what w-w-was th-that f-f-for?" She demanded reaching for her wand and casting a drying spell along with a warming charm on herself.

Harry was sitting beside her wiping cold sweat from his face. The rest of the people in the cabin were either standing over them or kneeling next to them.

"What happened? Who screamed?" Harry asked.

"No one screamed." Ron spoke up nervously.

Ursa pulled herself to her feet reaching into her cloak for two of the chocolate frogs she had bought.

She handed one over to Harry and bit the head off of hers shuddering in pleasure as the warmth traveled down her throat, chest then landed in her stomach warming her in a way the warming charm couldn't.

"Mom always said chocolate was the best cure." Ursa sighed in relief as the cold retreated.

"She was quite right in this case." Lupin spoke up looking at her searchingly. He reached out pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "You look so much like your father. And also a quite bit like your mother." He sighed. "I don't know if that's a good thing or not."

He took out a huge bar of chocolate and broke it into several pieces with a snap handing a piece to each of the other people in the compartment.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked.

"That was a dementor. One of the dementors of Azkaban."

He turned towards the door of the compartment. "I'm going to talk to the driver. Eat your chocolate." He ordered.

"What happened?" Harry asked again after Lupin had left.

"They'll tell you if you eat your chocolate."Ursa compromised.

Harry looked at her for a second before taking a bite of the chocolate frog he hadn't touched. "There." He mumbled his mouth half full with melted chocolate.

"You sort of went rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching. We thought you were having a fit or something." Ron explained.

"And Professor stepped over you and walked toward the dementor pulling out his wand. He said 'None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something and something silvery came out of his wand and chased the dementor away." Hermione added.

"It was horrible. Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?" Neville asked in a higher than normal voice.

"I felt weird, like I'd never be cheerful again." Ron added shifting uncomfortably.

Ginny came out of her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry did. She gave a small sob and Hermione hurried to comfort her. Ursa picked up a piece of the chocolate Lupin had left and stuck it in her mouth. "Let it melt in your mouth." She ordered. "It sort of spreads warmth all the way through your body."

"But none of you fell out of your seats?" Harry asked awkwardly.

"I did." Ursa spoke up. "I'm not ashamed of it either. Dementors are the worst creatures known to wizard kind. That's why they were chosen to guard Azkaban. That and the ministry can control them by promising them a whole room full of people filled with emotions." Ursa explained bitterly.

The others looked at her curiously.

Professor Lupin had come back. "I didn't poison the chocolate you know." He said with a small quirk of a smile.

"Wouldn't put it past you to make it turn us scarlet and gold or something." Ursa said with a chuckle.

He chuckled too. "No no. I grew out of that." He replied.

"You never grow out of being a Marauder." Ursa replied seriously.

"Ah, but I did." He counters.

"So you say." Ursa relented.

"A Marauder?" Hermione asked looking between Lupin, Ursa and Ursa's cat.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes." He ignored Hermione's question. "Are you alright Harry, Ursa?"

"Fine." Harry muttered sounding embarrassed.

"I'll be okay. I just need chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. Chocolate eclairs, chocolate pudding, chocolate ice cream..." Ursa trailed off with a grin.

"Yes, definitely like your father." Lupin sighed.

"Hey, I take that as a complement mostly." Ursa said. "I hope I got Mom's common sense though, according to her he didn't have much of it."

"Most of the time, he didn't." Lupin sighed.

The rest of the ride after that was silent. The rest of the students sending curious looks at Ursa.

"Firs' years this way!" Hagrid called out over the heads of the students. Ursa made her way over to him. "Ah, you must be Ursa, Dumbledore told me you'd be traveling across the lake wit' me." He spoke in his booming voice.

"All righ', you three?" He called over to Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They waved back before heading over to the carriages.

The ride across the lake was peaceful. Especially compared to what happened when Ursa was sorted. She had to wait until all the first years were sorted then Dumbledore stood up.

"This year we have a transfer student from Salem Academy for Witches in America. Please join me in welcoming Miss Ursalana Black!" He announced. The hall was silent as death for a moment then the chattering began.

"Black!"

"Like Sirius Black?"

"Do you think she's related to him?"

"Of course she has to be."

"But how is she related to him?"

And many many more snatches of conversation reached her ears. She sighed resigning herself to a year of being isolated, good thing she had thought to get Marauder. He would probably be the only company she had.

She sat on the three legged stool and Professor Sprout dropped the sorting hat on her head.

_"Ah, Miss Black. I remember your father. Fascinating he was the exact opposite of his parents. You on the other hand are a carbon copy of your parents. Right down to the house you lean towards."_ The hat spoke to her in her head. "Gryffindor!" The hat shouted out loud.

Ursa handed the hat back to Sprout and walked quietly to the Gryffindor table in a ringing silence. She sat opposite of Ron watching as people on either side of her scooted down so they didn't have to sit next to her. She dropped her head, this sucked. Just like she told her mom it would.

Ron looked like he was going to move to but he eventually sat still.

Ursa sighed sadly. Yeah, she was going to be totally isolated.

Harry and Hermione followed McGonigal into the Hall and they quickly moved to sit by Ursa not knowing her last name.

"Why are you sitting by Black?" One of their housemates asked Harry and Hermione.

"Black?" They asked.

"Her." He said pointing to Ursa.

They turned to look at her questioningly.

Ursa held out her hand. "Ursalana Lillian Black." She introduced.

Harry shook her hand anyway. "Harry James Potter."

Hermione took her hand next. "Hermione Jean Granger."

Ron taking his cue from the other two also shook Ursa's hand. "Ronald Billus Weasley."

"Good, we're all introduced. So what do you say to creating a group of pranksters with me?" Ursa asked half jokingly.

Ron and Harry looked interested. Hermione looked like she wanted to scold Ursa.

" to another year at Hogwarts."Dumbledore announced as the room settled down from Ursa's sorting. "Now I'd like to say a few words before we become too befuddled from our excellent feast. First I'm pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck professor." He gestured to Lupin as he stood up to accept the applause that was readily given.

"Of course that's how he knew to give you chocolate Harry." Hermione said.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Ursa muttered with a fake pout.

"Potter. Pst. Potter. Is it true you fainted? Actually fainted?" Malfoy asked one of his goons making a swooning motion.

"Shove off Malfoy." Ron retorted turning Harry back around to face the table.

"How did he find out?" Harry asked in a sotto voce.

"Just forget it." Hermione said. The four turned their attention back to Dumbledore.

"...Care of Magical Creatures teacher has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I am pleased to announce, his place will be taken by our very own Rubeus Hagrid." He made a sweeping gesture towards Hagrid. McGonigal nudged Hagrid motioning for him to get to his feet. He did nearly knocking the table over as he did so. Then as soon as the applause ended McGonigal tugged his sleeve as a sign to sit back down.

"Finally on a less pleasing note, our school is currently playing host to some of the Dementors of such a time that Sirius Black is captured they will be stationed at every entrance to the ground and I must warn you not to give them a reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving. They will not distinguish between the one they want and the one that gets in their way." Dumbledore warned seriously. "But you know, happiness can be found even in the most desperate of times... If one only remembers to turn on the light." He extinguished one of the candles when he said darkest and relit it when he said light.

They walked up to the tower with Harry, Hermione, and Ron forming a protective circle around Ursa who was the subject of many distrustful and even dirty glares. The fat lady was trying to break a glass with her voice.

"Fortuna Major." Seamus stated.

"Wait wait wait." The fat lady insisted trying to break the glass again. She hit a very loud sour note and finally smashed the glass against the wall when she was running out of breath. "Look, just with my voice." She lied holding up the broken glass.

"Fortuna Major." Harry insisted.

"Yes, yes, go in." She swung forward allowing the whole of the Gryffindor house in.

Hermione led Ursa up to the third year girls dormitory. Ursa took the last bed in the room, it was right beside Hermione's and it was the only one that was actually empty.

"We'll talk tomorrow." Hermione told Ursa as she laid down to sleep.

"Okay, I'll explain tomorrow." Ursa said also climbing up into her bed casting a ward she had found doodled in the margins of her father's school books. It was a prank ward that would make anyone who tried to open her curtains besides her or Hermione to get violent scarlet hair.


End file.
